Friday, March 11, 2011
Posted 6:47 p.m.
By Tracey Myers
CSNChicago.com
WASHINGTON, D.C.Patrick Kane was taking in the whole White House experience, from the tour to the kids street hockey game to President Barack Obamas speech.
WATCH: President Obama's speech
I was happy with his speech. I got mentioned three times in his speech, Kane said laughing, as he played hockey with kids on the south lawn. I dont know who was counting but somebody told me.
The Chicago Blackhawks enjoyed their final congratulatory moment of their Stanley Cup season when they visited the White House on a chilly Friday afternoon. The Blackhawks took a tour of the White House before being honored in front of a few hundred guests and media on the south lawn.
It was really cool, really elegant, Kane said of the White House. It goes back a long while obviously. I guess the first (president) to live there was (John) Adams. It was pretty cool to be part of that history, to walk through that house.
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Introductions between Obama and players apparently yielded a few funny moments.
Everyone was introducing themselves, first and last name, and Hjalmarsson just said, Im Nick, Kane said. So it was funny to hear that.
While the Blackhawks who werent part of the Cup team were part of the lawn audience, the Cup membersincluding visiting Brent Sopel and Cristobal Huet -- stood behind Obama during the festivities.
Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz called the visit the icing on the cake.
Obama gave about a six-minute speech congratulating his home-town Blackhawks championship and recognizing team ownership and specific playersnamely Jonathan Toews great work, Duncan Keiths postseason tooth loss and Kanes playoff mulletI thought it was pretty sharp.
Obama received a Blackhawks sweater and also got a chance to try on the Blackhawks championship ringthat's what you call some bling, right there, Obama said.
We have a proud tradition in Chicago of believing that no matter how long it takes, how much we have to endure its only a matter of time before our team finally wins it all, Obama said to laughs. The waiting builds character. We have a lot of character.
During the playoffs, even the Michael Jordan statue had a Blackhawks uniform on. And when the Hawks visited Wrigley Field during the Crosstown Classic, they did something even tougher than winning the Cup -- they got 40,000 Sox fans and Cubs fans to stand up and cheer at the same team, Obama said. (Thats) never happened before.
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville enjoyed meeting Obama.
Hes real genuine, a regular guy with a great attitude, he said. He was pretty excited. I had the pleasure to speak with him after we won the championship and he was excited then. One of the most amazing things was how excited the city was, and that was across the board. He was excited about it then and today as well.
The Blackhawks have enjoyed a lot of celebrations for that Cup victory, the most prestigious coming on Friday. While they keep moving forward trying to make the playoffs again this season, they enjoyed one last look at the past, presidential style.
He was very eloquent, very kind about the Blackhawks, team president John McDonough said of Obama. He really did his homework. He really gave Patrick Kane a lot of love.
Tracey Myers is CSNChicago.com's Blackhawks Insider. Follow Tracey on Twitter @TramyersCSN for up-to-the-minute Hawks information.